closer then imagined
by Angelsfire
Summary: 3-3-02 IVE ADDED PLEEEEEAAASSSSEEE R
1. Default Chapter

Title: Closer then thought   
  
Disclaimer: All the characters except the bad guys  
  
Rating: I'm going to rate this story PG-13. I do advise that there is sexual and physical abuse in this story so if you are offended don't read it!  
  
Summary: Lou is on her way to help Rachel Dunn with her new born baby in Missouri and leaves Kid and Teaspoon in charge of Jerimiah and Elisabeth, her younger siblings who her and Kid adopted after they were married and settled down. It has been 5 years since the Pony Express riders separated and all has been quiet until Elisabeth is kidnapped by Frank and Jesse James friends for ransome. Kid decides he needs his friends James and Buck to help get her back before damage is done.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
(Sweet Water, Nebraska)  
  
Elisabeth McCloud awoke to loud knocking at her door. It was early, too early for her to wake up. She sat up slowly and announced that whoever it was could come in. She was surprised to see it had been her sister, Lou, almost now formely her mother.  
  
"Hey pumpkin nose, good morning," Lou smiled at her 13 year old sister.  
  
"Mornin' Lou," she smiled back. "Why are you waking me up so early, the sun hasn't even come up yet?"  
  
"Oh, I just wanted to tell you goodbye. I'm leavin' for a week or so to go help my friend Rachel with her new baby in Missouri." Lou said sitting down beside Elisabeth on the bed and putting a piece of hair behind her sister's ear.  
  
"So you're leaving me here? But Lou, why can't I go with you. I don't want to be stuck with Kid and the boys, they'll expect me to do everything around the house." Elisabeth whined.  
  
"Beth, come on now, don't give me such a hard time. Rachel isn't as lucky as I am to have a great helper around the house to help with a newborn baby. Me and Ike will be back as soon as possible don't you worry." She winked.  
  
"You're taking the baby too? And I thought I had something to look forward to." Elisabeth rolled her eyes.  
  
"Don't give Kid and Teaspoon trouble huh? Be good. Stay out of fights. Try to be a girl for once in your life." Lou joked.  
  
"Look whose talkin'," the younger one laughed at the older one's comment.  
  
"Bye my love," Lou kissed her baby sister on the forehead and left.  
  
"Bye," Her sister waved and then pulled the covers over her head. She had about an hour left to sleep and she was determined to get it.  
  
*********************************  
  
"So how did she take it?" Kid looked at his wife coming down the stairs with baby Ike in her arms.  
  
"Pretty good I think. Look you're going to have to be careful ok? She can be a handful. Whatever you do, try not to get too mad at her if she gets into a fight at school or something please?" Lou was getting her stuff together to load onto the waggon.  
  
"Oh, she's probably like me when I was younger," he smiled.  
  
"That is what I'm afraid of," Lou giggled.  
  
"Hey, I wasn't that bad was I? Come on, Jimmy was worse!" He called out as his wife left the house to go put her luggage onto the waggon. "I want you to be careful while you are traveling. I know you can pretty much handle yourself but you know I still have to worry about you." Kid mentioned while following her to the parked waggon in front of the white picked fence by the house.  
  
"I will," she smiled resting her son comfortably in his basket beside her and then getting onto the waggon.  
  
"Tell Rachel and John I said hello and give them my love," He continued.  
  
"I will, bye Kid, I love you and take care of the kids will you?" She yelled while she started the the horses.  
  
"I will," Kid mentioned in a low voice as he saw his wife off.  
  
********************************************  
  
"Hey, half pint, it's time to get up and out of bed or you will be late for school." Jeremiah gently nudged his sister on the shoulder.  
  
"I'm up and I will be down in a minute." She sat up to answer her older brother. He smiled and then left telling her she better hurry up that it was late. Elisabeth got up out of bed and slipped on a pair of pants and a button up shirt along with her shoes. She brushed her long auburn hair and put it up in a pony tail. Her books were downstairs along with her homework from the night before. There would be no time to eat due to her being late as it is. Elisabeth went out her door and down the stairs grabbed her books and hat and then told Kid and Teaspoon goodbye. The only way she was lucky is that her and Jeremiah were one of the only kids at school who had their own horses. Kid's horse, Katie, had two babies within the last couple of years and Elisabeth and Jeremiah were given them as a birthday present.   
  
Elisabeth ran to the barn and found that her horse, Serenity, had already been brushed down and girthed. Jeremiah, she thought smiling. She brought her horse outside the barn and got on. There was no layed back walking to school today, nope it was going to be a run. To get to school she had to run through dead ground that no one lived on and through a small area of forest with a creek down the center. There was a certain spot where a tree had fallen acrossed the creek. Elisabeth loved to sit on huge trunk and draw every morning before school, when it wasn't too cold or not raining. Even this morning she thought it would be nice to get in one picture even though it would mean she would be late.   
  
It hadn't even been 5 minutes while sitting down that she heard laughing and shots being fired. She mounted Serenity and walked down the way of the creek when she saw some men in a circle laughing and the sounds of another man in pain along with a sound of a whip. She got off her horse and hid behind a tree to see what was going on. The tree was a perfect spot to see through the men at what was exactly going on. In the center of the circle a man of brown color was being beaten. It was what she had been taught to call a regular man, but in describing it was a colored man. There were 5 or 6 men on horse taking turns with their whips hitting the man in the center. The war had ended, the slaves were free, or so Elisabeth believed it to be. Why were these men doing this? She was about to say something when she saw one man pull out a gun and point it at the colored man. This can't be, Elisabeth thought. He didn't do anything to them, why if she looked closer she could see that it wasn't a man in the center of the circle, it was more or so a boy. A boy probably her brother's age of about 16. As the man was about to shoot the boy Elisabeth came out from her hiding.  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" She screamed, but it was too late. The gun had gone off and the boy was shot in the head.  
  
Her noise made all the men on the horses turn around. "Get em'!" The one with the gun said. Elisabeth got on Serenity as fast as she could and ran from them. She made the horse gallop as fast as she could. The gang was not far behind. It didn't take long before she saw the town in the clearing. She only looked to be about a 1000 feet away she heard shots and all she could do was pray that not one of them hit her. As the town of Sweetwater got closer she noticed the men backed off. She stopped and turned around. God only knows what made her think to look back. There the 6 of the men stood staring at her.  
  
"Run now, little boy. But watch your back. If you breath a word to anyone you're ours! And believe me we will know if you talk!" One of them said and then they all laughed and turned around and left.  
  
"Little boy?" Elisabeth said to herself. That's right she had her hair up in her hat. They thought she was a boy. Of course the boy clothes didn't help much either. But she hated dresses. She hadn't worn one since she got out of the orphanage and Kid taught her everything he knew about riding and such. There was no need for a dress after that. She was the odd ball in the town, just like her sister almost. Lou wore a dress into town, always, but at home she wore her slacks. Never, Elisabeth thought, would she want to go back to wearing dresses. She thought they got in the way and she hated how she looked in one. It made her a tomboy and she liked it, but now since these men were after her she thought it best to maybe take her hair down and not leave it up in the hat as usual. Yeah thats safe, she smiled to herself and then headed toward school. Her heart still hadn't calmed down. She didn't know what to do. The only thing she could think of was to go about her normal routine. And not to breath a word as they said, maybe she could talk to the sheriff after school.  
  
"Now the sentence is "My father and I take a walk to town," you would never put yourself infront of your father due to I being the noun and--" Ms. Gravely stopped as she heard the back door of the school house open. "Why Elisabeth McCloud, so nice of you to decide to come to school today. Take a seat, stay with us for a while won't you." The teacher pointed to the empty seat that was assigned to the the girl.  
  
"Yes ma'am." Elisabeth said out of breath as she took her seat next to her brother at the desk. The teacher continued her lesson as Elisabeth dozed off into her own world. She couldn't stop thinking about the men that had chased her. Obviously they weren't doing something they were supposed to or they wouldn't have chased her down. They weren't anyone she knew. Strangers from somewhere else and she had now became on their hit list. Great what other trouble could she get herself into? She thought as she doodled on her slate.  
  
"Eh hum," She felt the teacher grab her shoulder. "That isn't the sentence I wrote on the board Ms. McCloud. That looks more as if you were drawing which is not what we are doing."  
  
"I'm sorry Ms. Gravely. I will concentrate from now on." Elisabeth smiled innocently. This wasn't the first time she had gotten caught for drawing and it wouldn't be the last.  
  
"Well I'm sure you are sorry, and you can apologize by giving up your recess time to write a paper for me on why it is more important to learn english more then it is to draw and not pay attention to your teacher in class." She said as she picked up the slate that had the drawing of a man on a horse.  
  
It seemed likfe forever after that but the bell finally rang for the end of school. Everyone got up and left to rush home. Elisabeth and Jeremiah were the only ones left. She looked down and then to her big brother beside her. Who smiled. "You just don't know when to quit do you? And why are you wearing your hair down today? Not that it looks all that bad, but it isn't like you."  
  
"I don't know I just felt like it, is that ok? By the way thanks for getting Serenity ready for me this morning."  
She smiled.  
  
"No problem, but that definately wasn't the reason you were late, did you stop off to sit at the creek again to draw? I don't understand how you can sit at the same place and draw different pictures, I don't understand how you can do that when you know you have to be here." He shrugged and then got up to leave before Elisabeth could speak. "See you at home, and I suggest you not stop at the creek, there is a lot to be done since Lou is gone and we need your help before supper." He finished as they walked out to their horses and Jeremiah got on Lily and left. Elisabeth stood a while before deciding to leave. Frustrated with her hair being down in her face she put it back up and in the hat. She couldn't stand it down any longer.  
  
"Hey cup cake!" She heard a boys voice calling to her from behind. It was Mark Johnson the most annoying person in the world to her.  
  
"What do you want moron?" She rolled her eyes at him.  
  
"I see you tried to actually look like a girl today. I don't think you're either. You are too ugly to be a girl, and well you can't even throw a baseball like a boy, so I don't think you could be either. You are an IT." He turned around and laughed to his friends.  
  
"Yeah, funny, considering your mother almost turned you over to the road circus when you were born because she thought she had given birth to a monkey." Elisabeth smiled at her comment.  
  
"Why I ought to--" He was cut off from getting hit in the back of the head.  
  
"You ought what pee brain." It was Jeremiah from behind.  
  
"I ought to give your sister a punch that she'll never forget is what I was about to say." Mark wasn't afraid of Jeremiah when it came to saying what was on his mind, but when Jeremiah grabbed him by his shirt and brought him off the ground to look straight in his eye his face turned pail with fear.  
  
"You touch her you die. Is that clear?" He said between his teeth.  
  
"I was just teasin Jer, you know that. Besides I would never really hurt her, just some playful wrestling, you know?" he said with an innocent smile. Jeremiah let him go and went back to his horse. This made Elisabeth mad that her brother came back. She had fought with the boys before. This wasn't a big thing. But Jeremiah had always been determined to keep his sister out of trouble with his protection, which was sweet and in some ways his sister was grateful but in other ways she was pissed off that she would now be made fun of the next day for not being able to fight her own battle. She gave out an angered breath and got on Serenity to ride home with her brother.  
  
"We need to stop by the store to get some groceries before we go home, that is why I came back, I almost forgot, and Kid would kill me if I didn't get the grain." Jeremiah mentioned as they strolled through town.  
  
"Alright, I have to pick up something myself. And just for the record i could have handled that incident myself if you hadn't been there." Elisabeth said back.  
  
"Yeah, and gotten a beating that you would never forget. And then there is the trouble you would have gotten in for fighting and such, you know your usual." Jeremiah winked at his sister, who he felt sorry for because he knew how beautiful she really was and that only he had the open mind to see it b/c he was her brother.  
  
"I'll be right back I'm going to go say hi to Jimmy." Elisabeth said as she vered her horse the other way across the street to the sheriff's office instead of the market.  
  
"Beth, you'll be in there all day, c'mon." Jeremiah knew how much his sister loved hanging out with Jimmy, he had become a second father to her, other then Kid and Teaspoon.  
  
"It'll only be a minute," she shot back as she stopped in front of the Sherrif's office and her brother parked his horse across the street at the market. Elisabeth walked up to the door but didnt go in, she could see Jimmy was having a conversation with the mayor from the window outside. Instead she did the other thing possible, she was nosey and listened to their words by the door.  
  
"Deputy Buck found his body in the creek as he went fishing today. The boy seems to be a newcomer along with his mother in the town." Jimmy explained to Mayor Cauldrin behind his desk. Elisabeth gasped at the fact of actually knowing what they were talking about. So it was a boy, she thought, and she actually knew him too. He worked at the market, his mother and him had moved there only a couple months before hand. Jeremiah had even befriended him and went fishing with him a couple times. John Chambers was his name.  
  
"Does the mother know Jimmy?" the mayor looked at the sheriff with his shaking in despair.  
  
"No, not yet, the body hasn't been brought in town yet, they are still loading it. I think i have a shot of knowing who did this, but it is proof i need. It was a gang, they call themselves the Justifiers, they believe that slavery is a way of life and that is always shall be a way, they go around killing innocent freed slaves. The problem is that a lot of towns don't see it as a problem, but that isn't how i run things here, if i find them they are going to pay in front of a jury, if i can find evidence of murder." Jimmy explained sitting his feet up on his desk.  
  
"I think i can help you with that." Elisabeth opened her mouth as she decided it was time for her to be seen.  
  
"Half-pint, nice to see you. Now run that by me again. You think you can help me?" James Butler Hitcock got up from the desk and walked over to what he considered to be his best friend's daughter and his God child.  
  
"Jimmy can i talk to you alone, please." Elisabeth studdered. She couldn't let the mayor know her information, he would tell everyone.  
  
"Yeah, sure, mayor Cauldrin, please?" He looked to the man behind him.  
  
"Why sure, ill be in my office if you need me." He smiled walking out the door. As he did so Jimmy shut and locked the door behind him and turned around to look at the little girl standing there.  
  
"Beth, what do you know about these men? I can see it in your eyes you know something. Before John's mother knows, i atleast want to reassure her that the men are going to pay and if that means that you can put them away by what you know or have seen--" He stopped as he saw fear rage up in the girls face at the word. "Did you see John being killed?" He walked towards the girl who was now shaking. "Beth, please, for me, tell me if you saw anything."  
  
"They said they would kill me if i told." She shook her head.  
  
"I'm not going to let that happen half-pint and you know it. Please tell me if you saw one of the men shoot John." He grabbed the girls shoulders.  
  
"I did, they were all apart of it. five or six men. they all whipped him and then one pulled out a gun and as i yelled for him not to shoot he---he" It had just hit her what she saw. "Oh my God Jimmy," Her legs went weak she would have fell to the ground had Jimmy not caught her.  
  
"It's ok sweetie, Jimmy has you." he comforted the little girl as he picked her up and took her out to her horse. "Where is your brother, has he gone home yet?" Jimmy said as he put the girl on the horse.  
  
"He is in the market store." Elisabeth answered as Jimmy made his way over there quickly. As he left Elisabeth could see the waggon coming in that had John's body on the back of it. She couldn't bare to watch as the crowd came to see who it was, including John's mother, Grace. Elisabeth turned Serenity around and gave a hye-yah to get Serenity moving so she could leave town. She was in shock and she didn't know what else to do.  
  
"Jeremiah, get your sister home now!" Jimmy yelled walking through the door of the market.   
  
"What? Why?" Jeremiah was confused.  
  
"There is just something going on. Something-" He stopped as he heard Elisabeth yelled for her horse to leave. "Shit!" is all he could say as he ran to his own horse to follow the girl. Jeremiah followed quickly behind.  
  
Elisabeth ran her horse as fast as she could. She couldn't stop seeing John, the boy, getting shot over and over in her mind. It reminded her of her own father when she was just a little girl and he kidnapped her and her brother. She didn't like violence and especially when the person being shot didn't have a weapon themselves. She finally made it to the creek and her own little spot. This is the only place she felt secure. She couldn't go home. Too many already knew about her knowing. She couldn't tell Kid or Teaspoon. She couldn't put them in danger as well. Elisabeth didn't even think of herself being in trouble until the next couple of moments past. As she was getting off her horse she felt someone grab her. She screamed and turned around hoping to see Jimmy or Jeremiah or somone she knew. It was someone she knew, in fact she had just met him that morning. It was the man who had shot John. He grabbed her and pulled her up on the horse with him and then took off leaving Serenity there. She screamed hoping it would do some good but the man hit her to shut up her up. He hit her so hard it knocked her out.  
  
Jimmy followed the creek past the spot where John had been shot. He knew that the creek was where she was heading and not at home. She would be wide open at home and would feel as though she would be making an easy target out of Teaspoon, Kid and herself. As Jimmy was almost to the spot he slowed down knowing that the galloping would scare Elisabeth. It was then that her heard her piercing screamsand saw Serenity pass his colt. "BETH!" he screamed. Jeremiah was not far behind when he heard the same screams. He went past Jimmy before he could stop him. and he got to the spot just in time to see the horse with her on it and the guy leaving. He turned around and before Jeremiah knew it the gun was out and he at first hit Elisabeth to shut her up and then pointed it at him. It was too fast to even remember what happened the next moment but a shot rang out and Jeremiah fell off his horse. Jimmy didn't know where the boy had been shot, he was afraid to know. The only words he could say is "Damn!"  
  



	2. they wait and hear the truth

CHAPTER 2  
  
"Jerimiah!" Jimmy raced over to the boy slumped over on the horse as soon as he came out of his trance.  
  
"I'm fine, Elisabeth! He's got Elisabeth! We need to go and get him!" He grabbed his reins and started to move when noticing the sharp pain of the graise to his left side. "AHH!" he screamed.  
  
"Come on boy, we need to get you back to The Kid and Teaspoon. They need to know what is going on before we go after the man." Jimmy spoke as he grabbed the reins of the boy's horse and did a steady traught back to The Kid's place. He had a lot of explaining to do to The Kid and didn't even want to know how he was going to take, especially after Jerimiah had been shot.  
  
**************************************************************  
  
Teaspoon looked at his watch as him, Kid, and Buck sat on the porch waiting for Jerimiah, Jimmy, and Elisabeth to get back. Buck had seen what had happened as he was pulling up in town with the body of the boy he had found earlier that afternoon. When he saw Elisabeth pass by in a rush and Jimmy and Jerimiah fallowing he got worried, especially since the mayor had told him that Elisabeth knew something about the murder and seemed scared. Buck finally made it to Kid's ranch after comforting the boy's mother and doing all that was necessary to get ready for the boys barrial the next day. He was hoping by the time he go to Kid's that the three would have made it back. It had been almost a half an hour since he had arrived that the three finally saw something coming.  
  
"Riders coming!" Buck yelled out of habit. "Someones hurt." he said as he saw a slumped body.  
  
"Oh my God," Kid said running to the 3 horses. His heart pounded furiously as he saw it was Jerimiah slumped over on the horse. It felt as though it was going to burst when he noticed that Serenity didn't have Beth on it. "Jimmy where's Beth," he said tending to his little brother, now son.  
  
"That is something we are going to have to talk about Kid. Don't worry, all Jerimiah has is a graise. Teaspoon will you take care of him while me and and the Kid talk alone?" Jimmy said getting down off his horse.  
  
Teaspoon nodded helping the boy to the house. Buck followed not needing to be told what to do. Jimmy and Kid walked back to the barn. It took Jimmy a second before he could talk. "Kid, Beth has been kidnapped." He got the words out in a very short manner. Kid stopped dead in their tracks.  
  
"What? Who the hell by?" He said as his face went from worried to anger.  
  
"Kid, Elisabeth saw a colored boy murdered this morning by this group called the Justifiers. I think they are part of Jesse's group. They know that Beth saw this happen this morning. She came to me after school to tell me about it and i guess she got scared when the body was being brought into town that she ran off. She was kidnapped at the creek i think it was by one of the gang members." Jimmy babbled all this waiting for Kid to punch him, instead as he looked at his best friend all he could see was panick and anger.  
  
The Kid took a deep breath. At the moment he felt his chest had tightened. For one thing he was worried as hell what was going to happen to Beth, a second thing was the fact that he hadn't taken care of her for even 6 hours and she had been kidnapped. "Do we know where their camp is?"  
  
"I do, but they are probably half way there by now. It is about a days ride to the gangs camp by one horse. But i have a feeling she is being hidden somewhere tonight until tomorrow so they can finish the ride. I dont know where but if we could get Buck to follow the tracks from the creek----"  
  
"Yeah let's do that. I'll have Teaspoon get word to Louise. Let's leave as soon as possible." Kid said turning around with Serenity in hand. He headed for the house to go get Buck and to tell Teaspoon everything.  
  
"Kid, you know i tried----"  
  
"I know Jimmy, you love the kid as much as we do. I don't blame you. I just want to find the bastards who have her before they do anything to her, and they better pray that I'm not in the mood to kill them." 


End file.
